15 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A 2600-year-old Clay Pot was Repurposed As Trash Bin in An Iranian Museum

A clay pot dating back to the 2600-year-old Medes period is now serving as a trash bin in a museum in Rasht, the capital of Gilan province in northern Iran.

Iran’s Archaeological Museum of Rasht has come under fire after Etemad newspaper reported the museum’s use of a clay pot dating back to the Median era as a trash bin.

A curator has tried to justify the negligence by saying that plastic or wooden trash bins would have been stolen from the museum.

Rasht Museum opened in 1971. The archeology section of the museum is on the basement level and includes 40 displays that hold pre-Islamic archeological finds from Gilan and other parts of the country.

The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran 678 BC–c. 549 BC). Medes are documented in the Assyrian sources from the late 9th century BC.

A Medes-era clay pot used as a trash bin in the Rasht Museum. Photo: Etemad Newspaper
A Medes-era clay pot used as a trash bin in the Rasht Museum. Photo: Etemad Newspaper

The Greek historian Herodotus describes the early history of the Medes in his Mêdikos Logos. He credits one Deioces with uniting the six Median tribes and thereby founding a Median empire, with Ecbatana as its capital; the Medes supposedly elected him to be their king, and Herodotus goes on to trace Median history until the 6th century BC.

According to Herodotus, the Median state reached as far west as the River Halys in central Anatolia. Yet contemporary evidence for a unified Median state in the 8th and 7th centuries BC has, so far, proven elusive.

However, recently, new information about the Medes began to be obtained, especially during the excavations carried out in Amasya Oluzhöyük (Central Anatolia/Türkiye).

Iran, renowned for its millennia-old cultural heritage, faces difficulties in preserving such priceless artifacts. The neglect, insufficient maintenance, and environmental impacts on some historical sites and artifacts further intensify worries about the overall state of preservation.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the emphasis on Islamic culture has often resulted in a more conservative attitude toward pre-Islamic relics. Despite having presided over the world’s largest empire, the current Iranian regime appears hesitant to fully embrace its profound historical legacy.

The development unfolds amid the backdrop of extensive collections of ancient Persian artifacts excavated by foreign archaeologists before the twentieth century.

Related Articles

A Scandinavian Roman gladiator in York: Research Reveals Unknown Migrations Before the Viking Age

7 January 2025

7 January 2025

Scandinavian genes were present on the British Isles several centuries earlier than previously thought, including evidence from a man buried...

The Iremir Mound illuminates the pre-Urartian period in East Van

27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Archaeological findings unearthed in the excavations carried out at the İremir Mound in the Gürpınar district of Van, in eastern...

2500 Years of Animal Love in Termessos Ancient City

8 February 2021

8 February 2021

We are witnessing more and more of the unscrupulousness, cruelty and torture inflicted on our animal friends every day.These news...

Archaeologists discovered a mausoleum dating back to Golden Horde era in Kazakhstan

8 July 2023

8 July 2023

Remains of a mausoleum dating back to the Golden Horde in the 15th century were discovered on the territory of...

Mosaic Discovered in Illegal Dig in Zile Points to Ancient Roman Public Structure

12 July 2025

12 July 2025

Zile, a district in the Tokat province of northern Türkiye, has long been recognized as one of Anatolia’s most historically...

The unknown importance of Göllü Dağ on the route of the first humans’ Transition from Africa to Europe

4 October 2021

4 October 2021

The researches conducted in Göllü Dağ and its surroundings, located within the borders of Niğde province in Central Anatolia, and...

Bronze Age artifacts discovered near the residence of ‘Iran’s Napoleon’

6 July 2021

6 July 2021

Archaeologists in Iran have discovered a plethora of artifacts and damaged structures near a former residence of Nader Shah, dubbed...

Christians Supplied Medieval Pagans with Horses for Sacrifice for Funeral Rituals

20 May 2024

20 May 2024

In the late medieval period, pagans in the Baltic region of northern Europe imported horses from neighboring Christian nations for...

The “food” thousands of years ago may be the ancestor of a Turkish dessert

25 July 2021

25 July 2021

The rock paintings and kitchen materials found in the cave, which were discovered by a shepherd and emerged as a...

Anglo-Saxon monasteries were more resilient to Viking attacks than thought

31 January 2023

31 January 2023

Researchers from the University of Reading’s Department of Archaeology have found new evidence that Anglo-Saxon monastic communities were more resistant...

Archaeologists Unearth Exceptionally Preserved Roman Wicker Well in Norfolk, England

4 July 2025

4 July 2025

A team of archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology has uncovered a remarkably intact Roman-era well in Norfolk, England, revealing new insights...

Ancient Guests, Exotic Gifts: Wild Boars Traveled Miles to a Prehistoric Feast in Iran

15 July 2025

15 July 2025

New research suggests prehistoric communities in Iran’s Zagros Mountains transported wild boars over 70 kilometers to participate in elaborate communal...

1,800-year-old wooden mask likely used in farm festivals found in Japan

25 April 2023

25 April 2023

Archaeologists have unearthed an almost perfectly preserved wooden mask from the early third century at the Nishi-Iwata ruins in Osaka...

In Egypt, archaeologists have discovered a 4,500-year-old Sun temple.

16 November 2021

16 November 2021

Archaeologists discovered an ancient Sun temple in the Egyptian desert that dates back 4,500 years. The remains were discovered under...

Archaeologists Reveal First Settlement of Cimmerians in Anatolia

23 June 2023

23 June 2023

Continuing excavations in Türkiye’s central Kırıkkale province have revealed new findings indicating that Büklükale village was the first settlement of...